The Truth About Neville Longbottom
by eau lis
Summary: Hermione finds out the truth about the cause of Neville's clumsiness and forgetfulness. Follows as she tries to help him and into the group's 6th year. my first fanfic. dont be too harsh!
1. The Truth

The_Truth_about_Neville_Longbottom

Hermione grabbed another ancient, heavy library book off the shelf. '_Why does it have to be end of term?_' she thought as she desperately scanned the index of Uncommon Magical Ways of Befuddling the Brain and Reversing the Damage. _'If I had more time this would be so much easier!' _Hermione thought back to the conversation they had earlier on the grounds.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ah! I forgot it again!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione heard Neville shout. It was a sunny day on the grounds of Hogwarts, and as their last day as 5th years, they decided to enjoy it. The three of them were lounging in the grass, talking quietly about their hopes for their new year, that is they were before Neville yelled out. At this outburst, Ron rolled over and commented lazily.

"Honestly, if I didn't know that Neville was always so forgetful, I would think it was some sort of a charm on his brain." Hermione gasped and sat up. 

"Oh my gosh," she whispered slowly. Then she jumped up and began sprinting to the castle.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted after her. "Where're you going?"

"The library!" she shouted back.

"No surprise there," yawned Ron as he rolled back over and closed his eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"This is the page," she whispered to herself, still in awe that she hadn't thought of it before. The short paragraph read:

**__**

**_MEMORY CHARMS_**

_If a small child witnesses something horrible, such as the death of his or her parent, a memory charm is frequently used. The incantation for a simple charm is _aculeus effluo_. However, if the adult performing the charm is not in a peaceful state of mind the charm will overpower, resulting in forgetfulness and/ or clumsiness of the child. Very few people are aware of how important state of mind is in this spell, so many children suffer the side affects well into adulthood._

__

To reverse:

6 weeks of intensive therapy with a healer is usually recommended to reverse this damage. The therapy essentially removes the charm, thus bringing back the painful memory and removing the clumsiness and forgetfulness. 

'I've got to show Neville and talk to his gran about this,' Hermione decided. But with the feast and the train ride home, Hermione didn't see Neville again until they got off at Platform 9 ¾ where Neville's gran hurried them away. Hermione resolved to ask her parents to take her to the wizarding post office 15 km away so she could owl him. 

A/N- hey guys this is the first chapter of my first fanfic and I'm slightly proud of it. If you want me to continue writing this, I need 10 reviews asking for another chapter. Thanks in advance, R/R!!!


	2. The Letter

Chapter 2- the letter

Neville Longbottom sat at his desk in front of the window in his room. He loved to sit here when he was home. He could see the sky and feel the wind on his face. However right now, Neville was working tediously on a potions essay entitled, "The properties of Aconite". He looked up and gazed out the open window. It was a moment before he noticed the owl flying directly towards… his bedroom window! The owl swooped in, dropped the letter on his bed and left. Neville picked it up and began to read.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Gran! Gran, come read this!" Neville shouted as he ran down the stairs.

"Is it a finished potions essay?" she inquired softly.

"No. It's a letter from Hermione. Remember her? We met her at the hospital. Here, read."

__

Dear Neville,

I hope you are well. I am fine. I wrote to tell you about something that I looked up in the library before we left. Maybe it will help you out.

Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm doing this to help you, but since I've met you, I've noticed you to be slightly more clumsy and forgetful than the average Hogwarts student. On the last day of term, I heard someone joke if they didn't know you were always so forgetful that they'd think it was some sort of spell. I went to the library to read and see how that could fit. The closest thing I got was a memory charm.

I'm terribly sorry if this opens old wounds, but is it possible that you witnessed the torture of your parents, and a grief-stricken relative put a memory charm on you so you'd forget? Ask your gran.

On a less painful note, removing the damage would be really easy. 12 therapy sessions over a 6-week period erase the memory spell and the after effects of it. They do the therapy at St. Mungo's. The sessions alternate between grief therapy for when the memory returns and spell therapy to erase the charm.

I hope this helps you. Good luck!

Hermione

Attached was a copy of the page from the book.

Neville saw a shadow of a tear in his gran's eye, before she quickly blinked it away.

"This must be one of the brightest girls I've ever met. She's gotten it right."

"Which part," asked Neville.

"You were there when Frank and Alice were tortured. Your uncle did put a memory charm on you. If I'd known the damage it could cause, I would've made him wait."

At this, Gran began to cry. Neville sat down next to her.

"I can't believe I've put you through this," she cried onto Neville's shoulder. Neville felt his eyes go damp. His gran, the only person he can remember living with, feeling such remorse for something that she had nothing to do with. This was the fault of one truly evil man, Voldemort. Neville hugged her as she cried onto his shoulder. After a few minutes he decided to try talking to her

"So are we going to try therapy?"

"Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so emotional. We can schedule it today on our way to get you a new wand."

~*~*~*~*~*~

They set off for St. Mungo's by floo powder. They scheduled appointments for 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays for the next 6 weeks. The last appointment would be the day before returning to Hogwarts. He was to begin Saturday, the day after next.

The two arrived at Diagon Alley soon after.

"Let's get your wand, and then the rest of your school things," suggested Gran.

They went into Mr. Ollivander's shop.

"Boy, you aren't a first year, but I don't remember selling you a wand. Where is yours from?"

"My name is Neville Longbottom, sir. I'm a 5th year. I've been using my father's old wand."

"Yes," he replied softly, "your father's wand was maple, 12 inches, pheonix feather. Your mother's was cherry, 14 inches, unicorn hair. Let's see."

He set the tape measuring and began grabbing boxes off the shelf.

"Birch, 15 inches, pheonix feather. No? How about oak, 8 inches, dragon heart string…."

It went on like this for some time. Until…

"Sycamore, 13 inches, dragon heartstring."

Neville felt the wand grow warm in his hand. The warmth spread to his fingers and down his arm. He raised the wand and gold fireworks shot out the end.

"Bravo!" cried the shopkeeper.

They walked to the counter, paid for the wand and walked past the purple window display and back to the street to buy the rest of his school supplies.

A/N- The wand I gave Neville is the one I would want. If you don't remember in the end of book 5, Neville breaks his wand. It was a family heirloom. Maybe it was but I can't wait to see Neville with a wand of his own. Remember- a wizard never performs as well with another wizard's wand.

Next time- therapy! Woo!


End file.
